If we're lucky enough to get this funding we'll be starting a micro dairy with a difference...........

Our dairy will produce "naked" or un-pastuerized milk from traditional british shorthorn dairy cows. Our dairy will be different because we want to go back to the old days where cows could live out their lives on the farm in a small enough herd that we can build a relationship with our cows. We plan to buy 5-6 cows (our daughter already has a shortlist of names!) which will live out their lives with us here on our farm. We're not going for massive bulk milk yields but smaller yields from a 100% pasture feeding system that will make milk that tastes better from healthy and happy cows. We'll even milk them in a mobile milking parlour out in the field!

The 2 big things that make us different are that we won't take our calves away from our cows, all of our calves will be reared naturally by the cows, we'll just take the milk that's spare and our milk will be available mail order and also from a vending machine on the farm where people can come and pour their own milk and see the cows grazing in the fields around them.

This project is important to us because it will give us the extra income we need to allow my daughter to join the farm and it's great for farming. Hopefully more will follow our lead and in the future small mixed farms will be the lifeblood of the countryside once again!